Gaging means



UNITE L J'. E. ATYVOOD, OF MANSFIELD CENTER, CONNECTICUT.

GAGING IIEANS.

Specication of Letters Patent No. 23,539, dated April 12, 1859.

To all whom t may concern:

Bt it known that I, J. E. Arwoon, of Mansfield Center, in the county of Tolland and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus for Gaging or Determining the Size of Silk or other Threads; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, said drawing exhibiting a side view of my improved apparatus.

The object of my invention is to determine the size or thickness of threads or of the several portions of a single thread, with a view to their being sorted according to their size, more especially for the sorting of silk thread preparatory to its being manufactured into sewing silk by the doubling or trebling and twisting processes.

My invention consists in a series of rollers or their equivalents so arranged and applied as to constitute a number of gages through which the thread to be sorted or measured is conveyed by suitable means and by which its thickness is measured at several points at the same time, and a multiplied measurement is obtained, which proyides for the infallible and easy detection of very slight differences in size, which it is almost impossible to detect by a single measurement by the most delicate apparatus.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is a standard or frame attached to a suitable base B, and carrying all the working parts of the apparatus.

C, C, C, C, C', C2 are the rollers which constitutute the gages, arranged one above another with their axes parallel with each other. These rollers have true and smooth cylindrical peripheries. All butl the top and bottom ones C, and C2, are attached to .similarvertically working levers D, D, D, D, which are arranged on fixed fulcrum pins o, o, o, o, secured one above another in the standard A. The cent-ral pins or axles c, o, c, c, on which said rollers are fitted to rotate project horizontally from the sides of the levers near one of their extremities, and the levers are so constructed or loaded that the rollers are so far counterbalanced by the weight of the opposite arms to those to which they are attached as may be desirable. The bottom roller C2, is fitted to rotate on a fixed l pin or axle o2, secured to the standard A. l The top roller C is fitted to rotate on a pin or axle o', secured in a lever D', which is fittedito work vertically on a fixed fulcruin pin b, secured in the standard A. This lever D', is extended to some length and pointed like an index; and a stationary plate E, is so arranged at the back of the lever that the movements of the latter may be indicated thereon.

F, is a spool which carries the thread to be measured or sorted, arranged to rotate freely upon a stationary pin f, secured to the standard A. G is a spool onto which the thread is wound from the spool F. This spool G, may be applied in any manner which permits it to have a rotary motion imparted to it for the purpose of winding up the thread from the spool F. The thread is shown in red color.

g, and 7L., are stationary thread guides attached to the standard A.

The operation of the apparatus is conducted and performed as follows: The end of the thread from the spool F is passed upward through the guide g, and thence between the roller C', and the roller C, next below it, over the said roller C, and back between it and the next below it, and so on back and forth, first over and then under each of several rollers C, C, C, C, and between the lowest of said rollers and the bottom roller C2, and thence up to the spool Gr, to which it is fastened. The rollers C, C, C, C, C', not being' quite counterbalanced, rest each upon the thread below it.

thread between the several rollers as indicated by the arrows in the drawing. Every two adjacent rollers constitute a gage; the six rollers represented thus constituting five gages, or any number of rollers constituting a series of gages one less in number. The thread, in passing between the nroller C2, which can neither rise nor fall, and the roller C, next above it, raises the latter roller a distance equal to the thickness of the thread above said roller C2; and in passing between said roller C, and the next above, it raises the latter to a corresponding distance, and so on to the roller C', which is raised a distance equal to ve times the thickness of the thread; thus multiplying its measurement five times. ment might be multiplied to an almost indefinitel extent by increasing the number of The spool Gr being set in motion draws the It is obvious that this ineasurerollers. The measurement of the live thiclrnesses of thread is still further multiplied at the index point of the lever D, as the distance of the said point from the center of roller G, is equal to several times the distance from said center to the ulcrum, and the position of said point indicates the size of the thread passing the gage rollers. Then avariation occurs in the size of the thread, it.is readily detected, as soon as the larger or smaller portion has entered between the several rollers, by the rise or fall of thelever D.

The sorting process requires a number of spools like G, equal to the number of sizes into which the thread is to be sorted. For the manufacture of sewing twist, it is customary to sort the thread into three sizes. The said spools are changed as the lever D indicates a variation of size beyond a certain limit; the apparatus being stopped and the thread being broken between the roller C2, and spool Gr, When such variation has taken place, to permit the change of spools to be effected by the person in charge; and the apparatus being set in operation again When the change of spools has been effected, and the end of the thread coming from the rollers has been made fast to the spool. I have tute a number of gages through Which the v thread might pass and by Which its multiplied thickness might be measured and indicated in the same manner as by the rollers; and I should consider such a system of gages to be equivalent to the rollers in the example of my invention which I have described.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- An apparatus consisting of a series of rollers or other equivalent devices so arranged and applied that their surfaces combine to constitute a number of gages through which the thread is conveyed by suitable means and by Which its thickness is measured at tWo or more points at the same time and a multiplied measurement obtained, substantially as herein described.V

J. E. ATVVOOD.

Witnesses:

J. G. ATWooD, M. B. PARKER. 

